Kochi: The High Court on Friday disqualified Mr K.M.Shaji MLA on the charges of trying to create communal polarisation during the Assembly election campaign in 2016. He had won the Azhikode constituency under IUML ticket defeating the LDF-backed M.V. Nikesh Kumar by 2,287 votes.
A single bench of Justice P.D. Rajan later granted an interim stay of the verdict for two weeks while considering a petition filed by Mr. Shaji seeking time to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.
The court posted the case for further hearing on Tuesday. The single bench also barred Mr. Shaji from contesting elections in the next six years. The bench asked him to furnish a sum of Rs 50,000 for meeting the court expenditure of complainant Nikesh Kumar within a week. The court rejected the contention of Mr Kumar to declare him as the winner in the elections and called for a fresh poll in the constituency.
Mr Shaji said he will approach the Supreme Court against the verdict. Describing the election petition against him as part of a dirty political game by his rival candidate, Mr Shaji said he did not have any connection with the offensive pamphlet.
Mr Kumar expressed satisfaction over the verdict and said that the UDF had engaged in a personal vilification against him from the beginning of the campaign. On the court granting a stay of the verdict, he said it was a normal procedure in such cases.
Mr Kumar had filed the election petition against Mr Shaji alleging that he had used religious sentiments and personal vilification based on six pamphlets allegedly distributed in the constituency by him and his supporters. The court took strong exception to one of the pamphlets with an Arabic headline stating “Non-Muslims have no place in the presence of Allah. On the Day of Judgment, they will never be able to cross Sirat Bridge.” The pamphlet also called on the believers to “pray for the victory of K. Mohammad Shaji offering Namaz five times in a day.”
Denying any knowledge of the said pamphlet, Mr Shaji alleged that the controversial pamphlet was inserted in the materials allegedly seized by an official with dubious credentials. Stating that he had consistently fought against all kinds of communal forces, Mr Shaji said the people of the state were fully aware of his secular credentials. He said he will use all legal means to save his name from such an infamy.
Mr Shaji was first elected from Azhikode in 2011 when he defeated CPM candidate M. Prakashan Master.
